Edmonton mayor Don Iveson has been in Washington the last few days for the U.S. Conference of Mayors winter meeting.
Iveson, who chairs Canada’s Big City Mayors caucus, went along with a half-dozen members, looking to highlight the benefits of strong relationships between the two countries.
On Saturday, he told the Alberta Morning News there’s been a consensus among mayors from both sides of the border on multiple fronts, including the need for the North American Free Trade Agreement.
“They’ve all heard from their Chambers of Commerce the same thing we’ve heard, which is that even though it’s not front and centre in the American imagination, certainly at the local level the importance of this trade agreement seems well understood.”
“And that’s very, very encouraging, because we’re counting on them to speak to their state and federal representatives about the importance of this and to preserve it.”
Iveson was part of a panel Friday that included mayors from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, chaired by the mayor of San Diego, Kevin Faulconer, who Iveson said touted, along with the mayor of Tijuana, how integrated economies are in all three countries thanks to NAFTA.
LISTEN BELOW: Mayor Don Iveson speaks to Peter Watts on the U.S. Conference of Mayors winter meeting
But on top of talks on NAFTA, there was also discussions between some of the Canadian and U.S. mayors of formalizing relationships between cities.
“So you realize that beyond — you know the odd sister city relationship — we may need to formalize an ongoing bit of work between American mayors, Canadian mayors, and Mexican mayors for that matter,” he said.
“To talk about the things that we have in common, and nurture a common cause on everything from trade, to human rights, to climate.”
Along with making new contacts, Iveson said he was able to connect with some of the mayors of Alberta’s biggest energy trading partners, such as Houston.
“So it was good to connect with them, and give them tangible examples of how NAFTA is beneficial to both of us. And for them to be able to take that back to influential red state decision makers. So, some of those touch points with some of our direct trading partners, we hope will have real resonance and influence.”
The 86th U.S. Conference of Mayors winter meeting wrapped up Friday.
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